1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a value-sheet issuing device for issuing sheets having the value of money, such as coupons or tickets.
2. Related Art
A value-sheet issuing device for issuing value sheets, such as coupons or tickets are known. The value-sheet issuing device is assembled into a machine, called a self-service terminal. The value-sheet issuing device prints required information on a sheet-like printing medium in color to form a value sheet. A customer gets the value sheet from the self-service terminal. The xe2x80x9cself-service terminalxe2x80x9d is an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine), an information terminal or the like. The xe2x80x9cvalue sheetxe2x80x9d is a sheet having the value of money. There are various types of value sheets, such as coupons (low value sheets) distributed widely among customers at free at the self-service terminal, and tickets (high value sheets) bought by customers. Examples of the low value sheets are discount tickets, exchange tickets, and receipts with advertisements printed thereon, and examples of the high value sheets are gift certificates and admission tickets.
The ATM having the function of issuing tickets as the value sheets is disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication Hei. 8-263726. A ticket issuing device of the ATM is made up of a ticket supplying section for supplying tickets sheet by sheet, a printer section for printing images and other information on a ticket in color, and a print quality verifying section for verifying the print quality of the ticket, viz., if it is satisfactory. The ticket issuing device receives an instruction from an upper level computer, e.g., a host computer or a control device, and issues different kinds of tickets sheet by sheet.
The printer section prints a common image and individual information on a ticket in color. The common image is common to all the tickets of the same kind to be issued. The individual information is different for each ticket. The ticket issuing device receives the common image and the individual information from the upper level computer. The currency of forged tickets will be prevented by printing the image in color at high definition.
The value-sheet issuing device must receive the common image and the individual information from the upper level computer every time it issues a value-sheet. The data amount of the common image is great since it is a color image. The result is that much time is taken for the data transfer of the common image, and hence for issuing the value-sheets.
To secure security at high level, the ticket issuing device prints the high and low value tickets at uniform and high resolutions. Further, the print quality verifying section carries out a careful and precise verifying operation for the tickets printed. Therefore, the ticket issuing device takes a long time to issue cheap ticket requiring no security. Thus, the ticket issuing time of the ticket issuing device is long. Accordingly, when many customers queue up at an ATM, the customers who handles the ATM for a relative short time must wait for a long time.
To cope with this, JP-A-8-263726 proposes a device which preferentially performs a normal ATM function when many customers are in queue, while limiting the ticket issuing function. Thus, when many customers are in queue, the ticket issuing function is limited, and this is very inconvenient for the customers who want to get the tickets in such a situation.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a value-sheet issuing device which issues value sheets for a short time in response to customer""s requests without limiting the value-sheet issuing function, viz., succeeds in reduction of the value-sheet issuing time.
An aspect of the present invention, there is provided a value-sheet issuing device comprising: a medium supplying section for holding a sheet-like printing medium and supplying said printing medium to a stage for issuing a value sheet;
a security processing section for selectively assigning security characteristic for preventing attempted fraudulent use of said value sheets to said printing medium received from said medium supplying section in response to an instruction received from an upper level device;
local storage for storing common images used common to issued value sheets;
a printer section for printing said common image read out of said local storage means and/or individual information received from said upper level device, said individual information being different for each said issued value sheet; and
a print verifying section for verifying a print quality of said printed printing medium.
As seen from the foregoing description, a value-sheet issuing device constructed according to the present invention stores common images in a local memory before a printed printing media is issued, and when its issuance is required, reads a required common image out of the local memory and prints an incoming printing media. Therefore, there is no need of receiving the common image from the upper level device every time the value sheet is issued. This leads to reduction of data transfer time.